Car-brake.



C. B. FAIRGHILD. GAR BRAKE.

I 91 0,805. APPLIGATION um APR' l 1903-' Patented Jan. 26. 1909.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

G. B. FAIRGHILD.

GAR BRAKE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 13,1908.

Patented .12.11.26, 1909.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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ru: NuRRls PETERS co., wAsmNcroN, n. c.

Uhllllllj STATES referir CHARLES s. rAracmLn, or New Yoan, Y.

can-enana.

Application le. April 13,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, CHARLES B. FAIR- oniLD, a citizen of the UnitedStates, and a resident of the borough of Manhattan, in the city, county,and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Car-Brakes, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to that class of car brakes in which the braking`action is effected, when it is desired to arrest or control themovements of the car, by forcing the brakeshoes against the peripheriesof the car wheels until the stopping or control of such movements iseffected.

ln Letters Patent of the United States numbered 696,901, which weregranted to me April 1st, i902, l have shown and described a car brake ofthis character, in which the forcing of the brake-shoes against the carwheels is accomplished by a screw, which is operated from the platformof the car through appropriate appliances, and is constructed with auniform pitch throughout. rlhis construction, while efficient inoperation and requiring the application of but a small amount of forceto arrest or control the movement of the car, has been found slow inoperation when applied in practice, principally because of the factthat, in consequence of the uniformity of the pitch of the screwthroughout its length, no considerable variation in the speed ofmovement of the parts operated from it is possible when taking up theslack or lost motion in those parts and when forcing the brake-shoesagainst the peripheries vof their cooperating wheels.

The object of the invention is therefore to remedy this disadvantage,and to provide a screw-operated car brake in which the taking up of theslack or lost motion in the parts operated from the screw will be morerapid T accomplished, and with less power, than when such parts arepressing the brakeshoes against the peripheries of the Wheels.

To these ends, my invention consists, first, in the employment of ascrew, having a plurality of threads of different pitches, with thebrake-shoes, whereby, when the screw is rotated to apply or set thebrakes, the movements of the arts o erated therefrom will be more rapidwifxile ta ring up their slack or lost motion, than when forcing thebrake-shoes against the wheels, but the ower exerted in accomplishing`the latter l be very much Patented Jan. 26, 1909.

lSS. Serial No. 426,769.

greater than it is in accomplishing the former second, in the means bywhich the mounting and connection of the screw with the brake-shoes areeffected; third, in the means by which the rotation of the screw may beacccmplisned, and fourth, in various other combinations and arrangementsof parts, all as will hereinafter more fully appear.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of thisspecification, Figure l, is a side elevation of an end portion of a car,having one form of my invention applied in connection therewith, withcertain of the parts broken away for purposes of illustration; 2, a sideelevation, with parts broken awa y, of a portion of one form of mybrake-operating mechanism, detached; Fig. 3, a detail, shondng afragment of one end of the screw and the means by which it is mounted inits supporting frame, with a portion of one of the stirrup rods by whichthe nuts that cooperate with the screw threads are connected with thebrake-shoes, broken anf'ay; Fig. 4, a face vie with parts broken away,of the frame in which the screw is mountech detached 5 Fig. 5, a sideelevation of an end portion of a car', similar to that shown in i, .withthe brake-operating mechanism located in a slightly differentrelationship with resect to the car body, and with a modifiedarrangement of mechanism for rotating` the screw, certain parts beingbroken away; Fig. 6, a plan view, with parts broken away, of a screw andcooperating nuts, and of the frame and stirrup in which the screw andnuts are respectively mounted and connected with the brake-shoes,showing a further modiiied arrangement of mechanism by which the screwis rotated, and an inclosing case therefor, and Fig. 7, a portion of theend of a car broken away, with my invention applied in connectiontherewith, but showing a still further modication of the mechanism bywhich the screw is operated.

ln all the figures, like letters of reference are employed to designatecorresponding parts.

A indicates a sufficient portion of a car body to illustrate myinvention, and B indicates one of the w reels upon which the car ismounted.

The car body is or may be constructed in any ordinary or preferred form,and is mounted upon any appropriate number of car wheels as may bedesired. As shown in the drawings however, the car body is provided withan outwardly extending platform a for the accommodation of a driver ormotor-man, with each of the car su porting wheels provided with abrake-shoe which is pivoted or otherwise supported in properrelationship with respect thereto. TWith the brake-shoes thus supportedthey are, in practice, normally held backward out of contact with theperipheries of their respective wheels by gravity or otherwise, but arecapable of being forced forward with more or less pressure toward and incontact with them when the movement of the car is to be arrested orcontrolled. For forcing these brake-shoes forward into contact with thep'eripheries of the wheels B when required, l make use of a screw C,which, in order to impart a more rapid movement to the brake shoes inthe earlier stages of their travel toward their respective wheels, and aslower movement when they approach and are pressed against theperipheries of the latter, with a corresponding increase in the powerwith which the screw operates, l construct the screw with a plurality ofthreads c, cl

' etc. of different pitches, which are progressively arranged thereon insuch an order that the thread c, having the maximum pitch, will first beoperative in carrying the brakeshoes forward towards their respectivewheels, to be followed by the thread having a less pitch, and so on,following this order throughout the series, from the thread having themaximum pitch to that having the minimum. As thus constructed this screwcooperates with a nut E for each of the threads c and c1, to permit ofwhich the screw C is rotatively mounted in a frame D. rThis frame, whichmay be constructed in various forms, is here shown as consisting of twoend brackets d and (Z1, which are connected and held at the properdistance apart by rods d2, that extend between them and are disposed inparallel relationship with respect to one another. ith the frameconstructed as thus explained the screw is journaled near one of itsends in a suitable bearing formed in the bracket al, while its o positeend is suported from the bracket l through a center 3, whereby to moreeffectively reduce the friction and to resist the strain imparted to thescrew when the brake-shoes are being forced against their respectivewheels in arresting or otherwise controlling the movement of the car. Tothis end, the center da is passed through and threaded within a suitableorifice d4 formed in the bracket d1, and is firmly held in adjustedposition therein by a lock-nut d5 applied in connection therewith, asshown in the drawings. The screw C being thus mounted in the frame D,the nuts E are restrai-ned from rotation,when the screw is rotated, bythe rods d2, which,

to effect such restraining action, extend through and are adapted tohave suitable orifices e formed in or upon vsuch nuts, slide back andforth upoon them as required by the operation of the rake, and asillustrated in Figs. 2 and 6.

To permit of the nuts E coperating with their respective threads c, c1,etc., these nuts are arranged at the proper distance apart to insure ofthe one passing out of engagement with its respective thread, as theother is brought into engagement with its thread, being fixedly held inthese positions by rods e2, which are passed through and firmly held insuitable orifices e3 formed in nuts E, and which, extending outwardthrough suitable orifices formed in the bracket d1, are connected attheir outer free ends by a bar e4, whereby, with such rods, to form astirrup, with the rods e2 provided at their opposite ends with nuts e5and e, which are respectively engaged with the outer side of the bar e4,and with the outer surface of the inner nut E. The nuts E being thusconnected and rigidly held at the proper distance apart, will, when thescrew C 1s operated, successively engage one after the other with theirrespective threads, with one passing out of engagement with its thread,as another is brought into engagement with its thread. To permit of thisbeing accomplished, the portion of the screw containing the thread ofthe maximum pitch c is preferably constructed somewhat larger indiameter than that containing the thread of lesser pitch, which, if theseries is continued, will be somewhat larger than that containing theminimum itch, whereby as the nuts are successive y passed over and otheir respective threads, one after another will pass outward over theportion of the screw that extends beyond, and which, unprovided with athread, is preferably constructed of a diameter slightly less than thatof the interior of the nut that coperates with it, as shown moreparticularly at c2, c3, and c4 in Figs. 2 and 6. With the screw and nutsthus organized and operating, they may be applied to the car in variousways. In Fig. il have shown them as applied to the frame of thedash-board and occupying a vertical position, while in Figs. 5 and 7they are located beneath the platform of the car and occupy a horizontalrelationship. When applied to the frame of the dash-board they are ormay be secured theretov by suitable bolts passing through the brackets dand d1 and engaging with it, and when thus applied the screw C ispreferably operated by a crank F. On the ot -er hand, when applied tothe under side of the platform a they will be secured thereto by boltsor screws, similarly passi-ng through orifices in the brackets d and d1and entering or engaging with the floor or sills thereof, and in thiscase the screw will be rotated,

lOO

' ary of a vertical shalt F1, which,

either by an endless cord or rope H, which., passing around a suitabledrum c5' upon the end ot' the screw and extending upward and over apulley c6 secured to the root ot the car within easy reach oi' thedriver or motorman, or by a crank ii"- through the intermedirotativelymounted in 'suitable bearings f and f1 respectively secured to thedash-board and formed in the platform, is operatively connected at itslower end with the screw through the intervention oi' bevel gears fl andf3. As thus mounted and operated in eitl'rer of the ways speciied, thenuts E may be connected with the brake-shoes in various ways. .l preferhowever to effect this connection through the intermediary ot a which,fixedly attached at one end to an eye-bolt i secured in the bar et, isconnected at its other end to the upper extremity ot' a lever L, whici'iis tulcrumcd intermediate its length upon a pin il, and is jointed atits lower end to the brake-shoes through the intervention of appropriatelinlts i2.

When the screw and nuts are arranged beneath the platiorm ot the car, ina horizontal position, the chain l will extend directly trom theeye-bolt t' in the bar cL1 ot the stirrup to the upper end of the leverL in a strai line. if! hen however' these parts are ranged in a verticalposition, s shown, instance, in Fig. l, then the chain, in tending fromthe eye-bolt to the upper end ot such lever, will pass around anidler-pulley i, journaled beneath the plattorm in a suitable hanger it.

As thus arranged and connected, thn operation oi tl e p arts w.-i be asiollows: il ith the brake-shoes held backward away from the peripheriesoi their respective wheels, and in their normal position, whenever it isdesired to arrest or control he movement of the car the screw will berotated in the proper direction through the crank F or endless core El,when the nut E will be engagea with the thread c, having` the maximumpitch, and thc parts thereby moved to take up the slacl. or lost motionin them, with the maximum speed. YWith the slack or lest motion in theparts thus taken up, and the brake-shoes carried into close relationshipto the peripheries et their respective wheels, the nut E will be carriedoli. its respective thread c and the nut E appropriate to the thread clbrought into engagement with that thread, when the further movement oithe p arts will be continued and the brake-shoes forced int-o contactwith the peripheries of their appropriate wheels at a slower rate ofspeed, but with a greatly increased power. The arrest or control oi themovement ci the car having been thus accomplished, and it be desired tostart the car either forward or backward, the screw C will be rotated inan opposite direction by its crank or operating endless cord,

when the reverse of the movements above specified will result, and thenut appropriate to the thread cl will travel along the screw until thenut appropriate to the thread c is ongaged with that thread, when a morerapid movement oi theparts wid be occasioned,with the consequent e tiectt hat the brake-shoes in moving backward away-.from the peripheries oitheir respective wheels will start at a slow rate of speed and bethereafter accelerated in their movement in their farther backwardtravel.

in the onstruction ot the screw C the diiference yetween the pitch ofthe various threads r f bc varied within wide lin `ts. ln practice havefound that with a maximum pitch ot two inches and a minimum pitch oitive eighths ci' an inch excellent results have been obtained, but thisvariation may be departed troni and the difference between the pitchesof the dii/'ferent threads nay be otherwise varied the iudc'vient of theconstructor or the eXig cies oi the screw may dictate.

lilith parts constructed and organized as above sot lorth l provide, aswill be seen, a brake tor cars, which, inits operation to arrest orcontrol the movements ot the Cars, acts with at rapidity during themaior port-ion ol the traY ot 'its 1warts, but with a very much reducedspeed and greatly increased power, when forcing the brake-shoes u 'n tthe peripheries et' the wheels, vhich ai l operation and results arereversed when brake-shoes are being withdrawn from periphe-y ci suchwheels. Along wi h lrhe parts above described may be employed suitablecasing nl in which various ot the parts ol the mechanism may beinclosed, as well as appropriate braces z, to aid in resisting thestrain imparted to the trame E when the brake-shoes are being Aforcedagainst the peripheriesol their wheels, as shown, for instance, in Fig.5.

Having thus described my invention, and specilied certain ol' the waysin which it is or may be carried into effect, l claim and desire tosecure by Letters Patent ol the United States,-

1. The combination, wi h a screw constructed with a plurality of threadsol' ditlerent pitches, and a nut l'or cooperating with each or suchthreads, of means by which a relative rotary motion between such partsmay be e'tllected to successively bring one after another of such nutsinto, or to carry them successively out of, operation, substantially asdescribed.

2. The combination, with a car wheel, and a brake-shoe for cooperatingtherewith, ol a screw constructed with a plurality of threads ofdifferent pitches, nuts for cooperating with such threads, means forrotating said screw, and connecting devices intermediate the nuts andthe bralre-shoe, whereby a progressively decreasing speed of movementwith a correspondingly increasing power is imparted to the brake-shoe asit is carried forward toward and against the car wheel, substantially asdescribed.

3. The combination, with a car wheel, a brake-shoe for coperatingtherewith, and a frame, of a screw constructed with a plurality ofthreads having the pitch oi' each succeeding thread decreased rotativelymounted in such frame, a nut for cooperating with each of the threads,and means for connecting these nuts with the brake-shoe, whereby thebrake-shoe in moving forward and against the car wheel travels atdifferent rates oi' speed and with an increasing power in differ# entparts of its traverse, substantially as de scribed.

4. The combination, with a car wheel, a brake-shoe for cooperatingtherewith, a frame adapted for securement to a car, and a screw providedwith a plurality of threads, the succeeding threads of which decrease inpitch i'rom one end of the series to the other rotatively mounted insuch frame and constructed with portions at the ends of the severalthreads reduced in diameter, and means for rotating such screw, of a nutfor coperating with each of the threads, rods by which these nuts areiXedly secured together and held at the proper distance apart, and meansfor connecting these rods with the brakeshoe, substantiallyT asdescribed.

5. The combination, with a car body, a supporting wheel, a brake-shoefor coperating with such wheel, and a frame secured to such car body, ofa screw equipped with a plurality of threads each succeeding thread ofwhich is of less diameter and pitch than the preceding thread, a nut foreach of these threads, a stirrup by which these threads are securedtogether and fixedly held at the proper distance apart, means forrotating said screw, and devices for connecting the stirrup with thebrake-shoe, substantially as described.

6. The combination, with a car body, a supporting wheel, a brake-shoefor coperating with such wheel, and a frame secured upon such car body,oi' a screw equipped with a plurality of threads, each succeeding threadoi which is of less diameter and pitch than the preceding thread, a nutfor each oi' these threads, a stirrup by which these threads are securedtogether and iixedly held at the proper distance apart, a verticalshaft, bevel gears by which this vertical shaft is connected with thescrew, a crank on such vertical shaft, and means for connecting thestirrup with the brake-shoe, substantially as described.

7. rIhe combination, with a frame'adapted to be secured to a car body,and a screw equipped with a plurality of threads, each succeeding threadof which is decreased in pitch rotatively mounted at one end in abearing formed in such frame and supported at its other end upon acenter, of a nut for each of the threads, rods by which such nuts areconnected and '.FiXedly held at the proper distance apart, a car wheel,a brake-shoe for cooperating therewith, connecting devices between saidrods and the brake-shoe, and means for rotating such screw,substantially as described.

In testimony whereof have hereunto set my hand in the presence of twowitnesses this 9th day of April, 1908.

CHARLES B. FAIRCHILD.

WM. H. APPLETON, WM. A. KNAPP.

